


Free Falling

by Welfycat



Category: Leverage
Genre: Community: kink_bingo, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-26
Updated: 2011-09-26
Packaged: 2017-10-24 01:27:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/257336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Welfycat/pseuds/Welfycat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not an unfamiliar feeling, for Parker, but it comes from an unexpected source.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Free Falling

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Kink Bingo (round four), Prompt: Suspension  
> Content Notes: Voyeurism without the awareness or consent of those who are being watched.

Parker knows she's not supposed to be watching, but then again the team watches things that aren't supposed to be watched all the time and it's sometimes difficult to tell what's right and what's wrong around Nate. She used to know about that, that stealing and being a thief were technically 'wrong' and that she was wrong, but Nate says that they're still thieves but now they're doing good things. And that's right.

Moral ambiguity about their day jobs aside, Parker knows that she's not supposed to be watching this even though she still doesn't really understand why not. It makes her feel a little odd, nothing extreme, just a bit like she's standing at the edge of a building looking down when she hasn't put her harness on yet. Her stomach and her chest feel tight, almost difficult to breathe but not quite, and she almost wants to close her eyes. At the same time, she can't look away because it doesn't make sense.

Parker didn't even mean be watching, didn't even know that Hardison and Eliot were in the back room at the office when she was walking back to get the tool kit to work on one of her rigs. But the door had been open, just a sliver, and natural instinct from a lifetime of watching found her pressed against the wall while peering in with one eye.

They weren't fully undressed, or even really partially undressed. Men were kind of odd like that, Parker had noticed, or at least all the men on the team were. Even when they were changing outfits while running a con, they all carefully turned themselves away and slipped in and out of their clothes faster than Parker saw them do anything else. Nate, in particular, found private places to change even though he rarely had dual parts in a con. Now, Eliot's pants were resting open just below his hips, his belt buckle clinking quietly as he pressed up into Hardison's hand. Hardison's pants were lower, slipping down his hips and thighs until the fabric bunched up just above his knees.

Parker pondered the difference for a moment until she realized that Eliot's stance was wider, the heels of his boots twisted out and one leg in front of the other so he wouldn't be over balanced. The extra tension kept his pants from sliding down like Hardison's had, though the extra muscle mass in Eliot's thighs probably helped too. Hardison wasn't nearly as well balanced, his stance soft and easy enough that Eliot could have pushed him over with just a nudge, which Eliot had taken to doing on occasion. Despite Hardison's glowers and complaints every time it happened, Parker knew that it was Eliot's way of training Hardison to be more ready on his feet. If Eliot had outright offered to help train Hardison, Hardison would have scoffed and refused - clung to his geek pride and cite that it was Eliot's job to punch and kick people. This way, Eliot was making Hardison more aware of his body and his surroundings, survival skills considering their line of work, and getting him closer to being ready to fight if the need arose.

Besides, Hardison had one of his hands clinging to Eliot's shoulder, his fingers wrinkling Eliot's green shirt as they pressed even tighter, which would make it harder for Eliot to push Hardison over. Parker didn't think that Eliot was going to push Hardison over though, not right then. She watched their faces for a moment longer, Hardison's eyes squeezed closed and his head dropping down toward his shoulder while Eliot was focused on Hardison even as his mouth repeatedly opened with a soft pant.

Parker let her eyes wander lower, she'd pushed the door open just a little further so that she could watch with both eyes instead of just one, and she returned to where her gaze had landed when she had first peeked inside. She swallowed hard, considering the scene. Her first thought had been 'Eliot and Hardison are having sex!', which was kind of accurate, but she still wasn't sure what exactly counted as sex despite her conversation with Sophie on the topic. Finally she settled on 'Eliot and Hardison are almost having sex' and tipped her head as she watched.

Eliot's hand was wrapped around Hardison, moving in the same motion as Hardison's though not at the same pace. Eliot was slightly slower, his movements smoother in comparison to the more erratic pace that Hardison had set. She looked up again and found their expressions more captivating than anything else; focused, and intense, and lost in whatever they were thinking and feeling. They never looked like that when they were on a job, no matter how hard the shock of adrenaline when something didn't go quite as planned.

It was over in what seemed like a handful of seconds but was probably longer. Sometimes when Parker was in her harness, flying through the air or hanging down an elevator shaft, time would jump like that. She'd be lost in the free fall, nothing between her and the ground, and it would take someone chattering at her over the earpieces to remind her that they had work to do and she couldn't spend all day comfortable and free. From how Eliot and Hardison looked at each other, Hardison's eyes popping open and an awed smile on his face while Eliot just looked relaxed and smug, they felt the same way.

Parker darted away as they started to move; maybe they would be mad that she had watched them and maybe they wouldn't, but she wasn't about to stick around to find out.

Two hours later when they ran through the new information that had been gathered about the con they were setting up for, Nate distant and lost to the rest of them as they looked through blueprints and files of financial data, Parker watched Hardison and Eliot for a sign that what she'd seen had actually happened. Neither of them looked at each other when the other wasn't talking, but Eliot stood closer to Hardison than he usually tended to and Hardison didn't yell at him for looking over his shoulder.

Eliot had gruffly asked "what?" when he found Parker watching them, but had been satisfied when she'd pointed out another possibly entrance on the blueprints, even though Nate had dismissed it as being too risky and as a last resort. Parker figured that meant that would wind up being their escape route, if they only made it as far as Plan G.

When they'd finished for the evening, everyone impatient to get started the next day, Parker walked through the bar and out into the city streets. Sometimes she stayed and talked with Sophie or bothered Nate and Eliot, or sat near Hardison, but tonight she felt like she needed to be by herself. There was a certain security in being by herself. No one gave her sideways glances that meant she'd done something wrong or 'weird', and no one could expect anything from her when she was by herself.

In her place - not a home, because she didn't really think of anywhere as home - she paced around for a while before pulling out one of her favorite rigs and hoisting herself up near the beams that stretched out across the ceiling. Finding her balance wasn't even second nature to her now, it was pure instinct, her body responding without her instruction. Parker spread her arms out, feeling her heart beating steadily in her chest and her lung expanding and retracting in the harness as she breathed. The world was far from her now, and she thought of Eliot and Hardison as she shifted her weight in the void surrounding her. Maybe this was the feeling that made them look so peaceful, or something close at least because they had both looked like they had nothing beneath their feet.


End file.
